Cholera cases surge in Sudan, health campaigns intensify

The Federal Health Ministry reported a rise in cholera cases to 556, with 27 deaths, predominantly in in eastern Sudan’s Kassala. The ministry recorded 49 new cases across 16 localities in five states. Despite these concerns, laboratory tests have ruled out monkeypox in Sudan.

In Kassala, a local health report published yesterday, detailed 424 cholera cases and 22 deaths as of August 19. The most affected areas include Wad El Helew with 176 cases, Kassala city with 126 cases, and Khashm El Girba with 81 cases.

To combat the outbreak, a cholera vaccination campaign launched on Monday, coinciding with a polio campaign, which targeted 51,000 people in Wad El Helew. However, the vaccines quickly ran out due to the high number of displaced individuals. Health officials have called for additional supplies to meet the demand.

In a meeting of the Federal Emergency Operations Centre yesterday, leading official, Haisam Ibrahim announced an extensive campaign to tackle the cholera epidemic. This includes cooperation with state health ministries, the World Health Organisation, and UNICEF. Detailed daily reports will be prepared to monitor the situation and coordinate efforts.

Medical doctor Mohamed Awad disclosed that federal teams are being dispatched to Khashm El Girba and Wad El Helew, with plans to send a third team to El Gedaref.

Floods

The El Gash River swept through Aroma in eastern Sudan’s Kassala on Friday, for the second time since the beginning of the rainy season in June. Cholera is spreading in the town. Two people drowned in the river in Kassala city.

Witnesses told Radio Dabanga from Kassala city that a civil defence worker, a woman and a child fell in the raging El Gash on Friday. Only the woman could be rescued.

One of the Ferdous bridges near the irrigation canals south of the city collapsed, and the canals flooded.

Although the level of the El Gash in Kassala city dropped from 290 cm on Friday morning to 220 cm in the evening, experts expect a steady increase of the river’s water level in the coming days as rainfall in the Ethiopian Plateau continues. The Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC) of the Horn of Africa’s Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) expects the rainfall rates in the region to rise until August 21.   

Col Badawi Hussein, director of the Civil Defence Police in Kassala and spokesman for the Kassala Rainy Season Emergencies Committee, said in a press statement on Friday that large waves of rainwater arrived from the Eritrean heights, which led to a rapid rise in water levels in the early hours of Friday morning.

Conjunctivitis

The report also highlighted other health issues. Over 2,000 cases of conjunctivitis have been reported in Sudan’s Northern State, with additional cases in North Kordofan and West Darfur. A staggering further 8,123 cases of night blindness and 72 maternal deaths were also recorded. 

The report indicated that autumn floods have affected 38 new areas, impacting 22,533 families. Malaria cases are rising in seven states, while efforts continue to address environmental health and food control issues.